


Scenes Of A Life That Never Was

by moredibell



Category: Marvel (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-16
Updated: 2014-10-16
Packaged: 2018-02-21 08:53:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2462249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moredibell/pseuds/moredibell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>KayQy requested a story where Clint's circus boyhood came in useful later. Looking like this will be at least two chapters as it kind of got away from me.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Scenes Of A Life That Never Was

**Author's Note:**

  * For [KayQy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KayQy/gifts).



Alcoholic fumes.

Quiet pleading met with a slap.

A screeching metal sound.

Clint shook his head of the scattered memories, looking up at his brother.

"I thought this was an okay place," he said.

Barney shook his head. "It sucks. You can stay if you want."

Clint shook his head in return. "I'm not staying if you aren't."

Unnoticed, the brothers slipped out of the orphanage. 

~*~

Kate Bishop pulled her long tresses up into a bun, picking up her bow. At eighteen, she was one of the oldest performing members of Carson Carnival. That alone made her think she wanted to find something else to do. She had no real idea of what that was, so she went on as she had since she was six.

Walking over to the targets, she pulled the arrows free, a flash of colour catching her eye. Half turning, she studied the area.

"Come out, kids," she said. "I don't want to have to come in after you."

She hid her surprise as the two boys needed no further threat than that.

"Why are you here?"

The older one gave a shrug. "Wasn't intentional. We don't got no homes."

"And how old are you?"

"He's six. I'm ten."

She had intended to bring them back to the circus, give them a meal and then hand them over to police. Now, she found herself looking over the younger one.

"We can probably use some help," she said. "You'd get a place to sleep, regular meals, and if you last long enough to be useful, you'll even get some money. But the work will be hard, and I don't expect you to be up to it. I spent my first year here going to sleep at two am and waking at seven to start all over again. I could take as long as I wanted to do my jobs, but I didn't get to sleep until I'd done them. What do you say?"

The boys looked at each other and back at her. "We'll take it."

~*~

Clint thought Carson Carnival was the best thing ever. The food was delicious, he got a front seat for every circus performance, and best of all, he worked with Kate, who never made him go to bed at two am. Which wasn't to say she wasn't demanding--Clint had learned to take multiple servings at breakfast and then at dinner, because Kate thought nothing of making him miss lunch.

He trotted after Kate, pulling the arrows from the target.

"The arrows can take another couple of shots before we have to replace them," he said.

"How do you know?"

"The wood's cracked on about half. Wouldn't want it splintering when we were pulling the string back."

"Then I suppose I'd better teach you how to make new arrows."

"Teach me? Or have me do everything?"

Kate smirked. "You're learning, Barton."

~*~

Clint regarded his brother warily. His brother had a couple of years on him under Swordsman.

"He's the closest to your ability I've got," Swordsman said. "Now fight."

Clint dragged himself into Kate's trailer that night and collapsed on the floor.

The next morning, the entire circus was woken by the bloodcurdling scream of Swordsman. Still weary, Clint dragged himself out to see what was going on, stopping dead as he recognised Kate.

She stood over Swordsman, notching an arrow into her bow. One arrow stood up from the ground.

"You do not train my assistant by beating him up," she said, letting the arrow go.

Swordsman screamed again, and Clint realised that the arrows had been shot through his hands.

"Those two are brothers," she said, notching another arrow on. "And I have done nothing to prevent Clint meeting his brother. I work Clint hard, but I have done my part to ensure he can have time with Barney, if he chooses. What have you done, Jacques? I know you set Barney on Clint and I know you did nothing to hold Barney back."

"You chose Barton the Younger," he spat. "I can't help that the elder is more advanced."

"Agreed," Kate said. "But you can exercise limits, restraint. What did Clint learn from using a wooden sword against a steel one? What did he learn when his sword was cleaved in two and he was then beaten about by the flat of the blade for hours upon end?"

"Not to lose his sword."

Kate lowered the bow and fired.

Clint winced, crossing his legs.

~*~

Clint hefted the bow, a sword strapped at his back.

Kate looked at him. "You know, you don't have to do this."

"Weren't you the one that taught me we always had a choice, but they weren't always going to be equal?"

"He's your brother."

Clint exhaled, shrugging, looking at the ground. "I've been trying not to think about that. You're right, he is my brother. Like it or not, we're always going to have that biological tie. But I have to be honest, Kate. He stopped being my brother that night we came here. You took me, Swordsman took him. And that day when you wanted me to be trained with a blade... I knew it then. We weren't brothers; we might have had ties of blood, however, he didn't care. Barney saw someone to beat up, to prove superiority. You got him to back off, but he resented it."

"I will see you again."

Clint smiled, breaking into a jog.

~*~

Clint steadied the arrow on the bow, huddled in the shadows. Barney, Trick Shot and Swordsman were standing around a table.

"Carsons say they haven't seen Clint in weeks. Kate is covering for Clint, but reports are that her excuses are weak." Trick Shot spat on the floor.

"Could Clint have followed us?" Barney said.

"He doesn't know anything," Swordsman said. "Besides, what does he care if we killed that whore?"

Clint fired, a second arrow firing a tenth of a second later.

Barney whirled around as Swordsman and Trick Shot both dropped, arrows in their throat, paling as the arrows detonated, blowing the heads off the bodies.

"Clint? I didn't want to kill the girl. It was an accident."

"Do you really think I care?" Clint stepped from the shadows, his bowstring drawn tight.

"It's not my fault you got Kate as a trainer," Barney said. "Do you have any idea what it was like, training under Swordsman and Trick Shot? I had to do what they wanted, or they made my life hell! I didn't know what to do!"

"Kate would have taken you on," Clint said. "She offered, too. You're the one who turned up your nose at the idea that a girl could teach you anything."

"I was a kid!"

Clint shook his head. "You were older than me. I know Mom and Dad taught you right from wrong, so did the orphanage. So they made your life hell. You could have come to me for help."

Barney snatched up a sword, charging Clint.

Clint let the arrow go. It slammed through Barney's left eye, detonating.

His brother dropped.

~*~

Clint and Kate stared at each other, steam rising from their mugs. It was a quiet cafe, warm and cosy.

"I've done all I can," Kate said. "If you wanted, you could stay with me at Carson. You could find another circus. But... we wouldn't be here if that's what you wanted."

"What, you think I need your permission to leave?"

Kate snorted. "No. You think you need it. But you don't. I did the best I could for you, Clint, as far as I could. This wasn't meant to be forever; it stopped being forever months ago. I can't teach you anything more. And you're eighteen. Time for you to make something of yourself. Whatever that may be."

"I wish I knew what that was meant to be."

Kate opened her mouth to answer, her eyes widening. In one fluid motion she was out of the booth, her bow aimed, arrow on the string.

An arrow she never got to fire, for a whirling vortex opened behind her, sucking her in.

Clint only had Kate's reactions to work off; his slower reaction saved him from being sucked in as well. His arrow slammed through the shoulder of some guy Clint had never seen before. He held another arrow on the string, watching.

"Very good, Hawkeye," the man said. "Your friend... is okay."

"Who the fuck are you?"

"I am called Tempus."

In the next instant, Clint found himself back in his seat. He stared at the table, taking in the sole mug on the table before bolting up, looking around. Adrenaline from the confrontation with Tempus was still coursing through his system, the only proof he had that it was real.

"Do you want something, dearie?"

Clint tried to calm down, his mind going in multiple directions. "I... I didn't come in with anyone, did I?"

"No, dear, you came in alone."

Clint dropped back into his seat, staring at the tablecloth. Kate was gone. He didn't know what to make of that. This Tempus had said she was okay. How much stock that was worth was debatable... still, there was little enough Clint could do about it.

The man had called him Hawkeye, whatever that meant. It was an okay name, he supposed. Not quite representative of his entirety. Still, he didn't have anything better to use.

Standing up, he pulled out his wallet, blinking as a fifty shimmered into existence on the table.

_The least I can do is pay for this meal._

**Author's Note:**

> More to come... up next, Hawkeye meets Black Widow.


End file.
